Mind, body and soul
There's a big dust-up at Davidson, where two prominent trustees have resigned to protest a new policy that pulls the small liberal arts college a bit farther from its Presbyterian roots.
No longer is it required that all trustees be active members of a Christian church. Now, 20 percent of trustees may be exempted from the former requirement.
John Belk - former Charlotte mayor, member of the department store family and largest individual contributor to Davidson, stepped down. So did Stephen Smith of Dallas, Texas, a former football star for whom the school's Stephen B. Smith Field is named.
The Davidson news is hardly startling ...
in an era when a once-staunchly Baptist university like Wake Forest can replace retiring president Thomas K. Hearn, an ordained Baptist minister, with a guy from Notre Dame. (OK, so Nathan Hatch is a Presbyterian; he's still not Baptist.) The old traditions don't mean much anymore.
Sure, it's a compelling argument that you just can't impose a religious test on college campuses these days. Legally, it might be permissible for private institutions, but it just doesn't work in our increasingly diverse and, frankly, secular society.
I understand the logic of Davidson's decision. I also respect the disagreement expressed by Belk and Smith.
Let's give some credit where it's due. How many private colleges and universities would we even have today if it weren't for the church? How many were not founded by churches? Very few in North Carolina.
Yet even the leaders of these colleges and universities are pushing away from the very churches that gave them life and sustenance.
Of course, you can't force students to attend chapel. Faculty can't be made to conform to any set of beliefs. Administrators don't have to be members of the clergy. And trustees are not bound by religious requirements.
All for the better? I don't question the benefits of diversity. But what's lost when a college's founding values are dismissed as irrelevant? Churchmen thought it was important to establish and support these schools because they believed it was necessary to develop minds, bodies and souls. Were they wrong? If not, what part of a complete education might our young people be missing out on now?
Yes, Davidson has only made a small compromise by allowing 20 percent of its trustees (9 out of 45) to come from outside the church. But out of respect for those 9, I would imagine issues having to do with the college's Christian heritage won't be emphasized as much during trustees meetings. The character of the college is likely to change. But then, it probably has already or else this wouldn't have happened.
I didn't go to Davidson but attended a state university instead. I didn't expect a religious atmosphere there. But families who think college in a Christian environment is desirable for their students may be finding fewer options available. That's a loss for them, and maybe for all of us.
Comments (5)
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Part of the reason many colleges and universities are getting away from religious roots is the fault of the church, not the universities. If Wake Forest for example stuck to its roots it would not be able to have an accredited biology or geology department because they would not be allowed to teach about evolution or that the world is older than 6000 years because of the strict rules of the Southern Baptist Convention. In such a case, as unfortunate as it is it would be irresponsible for the university to stay tied to the religious institution. Presbyterian universities do not have that problem, but I don't see the big deal with Davidson's decision. I'd be shocked if church membership wasn't still an important factor in choosing trustees. Besides, if students of faculty don't have to be church members, why should the trustees?
Posted on April 14, 2005 12:59 AM
Reminders of Davidson's Presbyterian heritage were subtle but inescapable when I was there 20+ years ago, and my mother, who lives in town and interacts with a number of faculty and students, says that nothing much has changed in that regard. I don't think the potential change in religious affiliation of a few trustees will affect that.
Posted on April 14, 2005 5:59 AM
Lex, it's evidence of a Presbyterian work ethic that you're up and writing coherently before 6 a.m.
Posted on April 14, 2005 7:43 AM
"If Wake Forest for example stuck to its roots it would not be able to have an accredited biology or geology department because they would not be allowed to teach about evolution or that the world is older than 6000 years because of the strict rules of the Southern Baptist Convention."
Have to take exception to that one Andrew. I attended a small Baptist College in Texas some moons ago and both biology and geology was taught just as it would have been in any other school. The only exception to what would have been taught in some schools is that BOTH sides of creation was taught there.
And Andrew the 6000 yrs is not fast held by ALL Baptist.(as point of reference, since I don't want to be accused of being a biased Baptist, I left that group a good number of years ago) I give some the credit for acknowleding the statement that a day is but to a thousand years and a thousand years but to a day (loose translation) Most teachers I had in that school understood that to God , there is no constraints of time.
For me, I don't know how long it took God to make this wonderful world, but I know that I can ask Him someday and that is all that matters to me.
Posted on April 15, 2005 2:17 PM
THanks for writing about this, Doug. I don't believe Davidson has "dismissed as irrelevant" its founding values. To the contrary, some of the changes implemented at Davidson recently tie the school even more strongly to its founding values. All Trustees must now pledge support of the mission statement. The school is educating tomorrows leaders with the same intense work ethic, intellectual openness, and voracious appetite for learning that it has always done - but the kids now are ridiculously smart and better qualified than, dare I say it, Lex and I could ever have been.
How about you, Rex, think you could get in there these days? I doubt I would.
The point of this change is that a larger and larger percentage of Davidson's alumni body is non-Christian. There are people from India, Pakistan, China, Africa, the Middle East, whose lives were profoundly affected by their years at Davidson, and who would like to serve their alma mater. Now they can.
As I wrote President Bobby Vagt, it is sad to read of John Belk and Steve Smith speaking of their love for Davidson in the past tense, but somewhere a young Indian software executive is going to be ready to stand in the gap for her alma mater.
This move is consistent with Davidson's faith tradition, not in opposition to it. Presbyterianism is a worldly faith - strong enough to withstand (or learn from) exposure to, and challenge by, other faiths and ideas.
Posted on April 18, 2005 9:51 AM